Volume 5: Gamma-20, Chapter 5.10

Fear gripped me as I remembered all the clinically detached information I was told about a collapsed warp gate, how it would destroy most vessels, how it could lead to a singularity that could erase planets or even whole solar systems. It felt like there was ice in my veins, and while the ship shook and rumbled around me, I had no idea what we could do in such a desperate situation.

It was then I remembered Eve wasn’t afraid of the singularity—telling Zyno he’d be surprised what all a Predazoan could survive, and then I realized why she looked so scared before me.

Eve wasn’t sure if she could protect me this time.

Refusing to give up, Eve’s expression shifted to a determined mask as she fought past her fear and picked me up, then led me by the hand out of the half-destroyed kitchenette.

“Come on, we need to get you to the lifepod.” She insisted.

“Can we escape void space through a destabilized gate?” I asked.

Eve didn’t answer me as she pulled me through the hallways of the old vessel, having to jump over a hole in the flooring of some panel that fell into the basement.

“Eve?”

Eve chanced a quick glance back to me, “I’ll need to try and stabilize the gate.”

My eyebrows shot up, “Can you do that contained as you are?”

Again, Eve didn’t answer, and we passed Bryx and Willa rushing out of the smoking cockpit.

“Head to the lifepod!” Eve ordered them.

The two soldiers looked up at Eve, as though confused by her orders.

“Why? The gate’s collapsed, we can’t get through.” Willa said.

Eve shook her head, “I’ll worry about that, just get to the pod.”

“But the pod doesn’t have any void shielding.” Bryx insisted.

Eve growled low in her throat, “Then stay behind and die in the void!” She snarled, then continued pulling me forward without looking back.

“Eve, we’ve gotta get Zyno first.” I insisted.

“I can go back for him once you’re in the pod.”

I stopped in the hallway and pulled Eve to look at me, “I’m not leaving anyone I care about behind; I won’t get into the pod without you and Zyno both.”

Eve looked like she wanted to hit me then, but her concern for me overpowered her frustration.

“Stubborn boy—hurry up, let’s get your friend.” Eve said, then started moving faster through the halls, almost carrying me now.

I could see the metal paneling to the ship was getting warped all over, looking like some super magnet was pulling it forward, ripping it off the bolts that secured it. Sparks were flying all over, and then some stream of blue flames erupted from the wall we narrowly avoided.

“Zyno! Where are you?” I called out, hoping I could be heard over all the noise.

I didn’t hear anything, but Eve stopped me by grabbing my sleeve, “He’s back in the bunkroom, sounds like he’s trapped.”

I was thankful Eve had some kind of ultra-sonic hearing and raced off through the vessel to find one of the doorways to the bunkroom had been warped so the frame was blocking the way through.

I could see Zyno behind the warped metal trying to free himself but having no luck at all.

“I can’t get through!” Zyno said, sounding desperate.

I stepped forward and yanked off a chunk of metal framing, just enough for Zyno to crouch underneath to escape.

“Glad you had those weird enhancements.” Zyno confirmed.

I rolled my eyes, “Like Eve couldn’t have done all that and more on her own.”

Eve hissed at us, “Enough talking, time to get a move on!” She insisted, pushing us forward.

“Where the hell can we even go? If the warp gate collapsed, we won’t be able to escape void space at all.” Zyno said.

Eve kept pushing us forward, “Let me worry about that, you two just get to the lifepod.”

Zyno tried to look back at Eve, “But the lifepod doesn’t have shielding for—”

“I know!” Eve shrieked, causing me and Zyno to flinch away from the noise.

Krook Hook

wasn’t large at all, so it didn’t take us long to make it over to the lifepod. I could see everyone else from the team was already inside, but it was obvious no one knew why they were there.

The inside of the lifepod was rather plain, just light grey metal paneling, looking much newer compared to anything on ancient

Krook Hook.

Bryx was up at the front by some digital control display next to Willa, with Hennor looking sick beside them holding his bulbous head between his knees, while Roote and Durgo waited by the doorway for us.

“Here we are, now what’s the plan?” Durgo asked.

Eve pushed me and Zyno inside the lifepod, “All of you wait inside the lifepod, and when I give the signal, jettison out to escape void space.”

Roote quirked up a rocky ridge that worked as an eyebrow, “How can we escape without an exit gate?”

Eve gestured to herself, “I’m going to work on the reactor to reopen or restabilize the gate; I won’t be able to open it for long, so you’ll need to depart the

second

I tell you.”

“You’re sure you can—” Durgo started, but I stepped in front to cut him off quick.

“Fuck no, you’re planning on staying behind, aren’t you?” I demanded.

Eve almost looked desperate now, “Adam, please, this is the

only

way I can get you safely out of void space.”

I moved forward to get off the lifepod, “If you’re staying, I’m staying; you can just wrap me in some weird armor-body-thing like you did out in space when we fought Gamma-12.” I insisted.

But Eve stopped me from moving forward easily by placing a hand on my chest, “Adam, I can’t protect you like that with the inhibitor field; we’d still be separated by the barrier, so I can’t fully contain you to shield you now. You’d die in the void same as you’d die in the vacuum of space if we tried that now.”

I shook my head, “But with the inhibitor field, will you even be able to manipulate your void energy to create or control a warp gate?”

Eve sighed, “That’s why I need to stay behind, use the reactor as a conduit for now to get you all safely through.”

I crossed my arms then, seeing where this was going, “And then you’ll be trapped in void space; when the reactor breaks down, with the inhibitor field containing you, there’ll be no way for you to escape.”

Eve had a desperate look in her eyes as though she was trying to will me to understand, “Adam, this will

not

be the end of me—the end of

us

. I can survive in the void just fine, and I can take my time trying to find a way to break free, either on my own or work to repair

Krook Hook’s

reactor.” She pointed to me, “You simply don’t have that kind of time, which is why you need to leave now.”

As though to prove her point, there was another explosion somewhere deep inside the vessel that nearly floored everyone except Eve, and I could hear the high-pitch whine of metal as it was warping all over the ship.

I stood back up, shaking my head slowly, “Please don’t go.”

Tears welled up in the corner of Eve’s eyes, but she blinked them away quickly, “Adam, you’re my forever; please,

please

let me go now so we can have our eternity later.” She insisted.

There was another explosion, but this one sounded far away as the thought of being separated from Eve consumed my senses—the idea of being without her and how dreadful that would be.

“Whatever you decide, do it quick; we’re not going to last much longer.” Bryx announced from the front of the lifepod.

Eve leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed me deeply, passionately, and sadly. I could see a tear roll down her cheek, but couldn’t feel it as it was contained within her inhibitor field.

“I love you Adam, and I

will

see you again soon.” Eve said seriously.

I held Eve’s hand in mine, “I love you too Eve. Be careful and come back to me.” I answered.

Eve nodded, then without warning pushed me inside the lifepod and then closed the airlock in front of me.

~I’ll return to you Adam, my love, my soul, I swear to you~

She hummed to me.

~You better, I still need to fuck you as an imphonite short stack~

I vibrated back.

Somehow Eve was able to convey her laughter through the inner-ear vibrations,

~Of course darling, and we’ll spend a full cycle in bed without leaving~

~Three cycles~

~Don’t threaten me with a good time~

Eve said, then the sound of her vibrations trailed away.

There were a few moments I was consumed by dread, wondering if Eve would be okay on her own. The sound of the ship being destroyed around me almost seemed muted in comparison. There was a flash of sparks that rained down from some overhead panel in the lifepod, and it started to feel like the pod was beginning to tip downward as though it was about to fall away into nothingness.

Then there was a cluster of distant explosions around us, and then everything in space seemed to lurch forward, but then it all suddenly stopped and solidified.

Eve’s voice crackled to life on the radio in the lifepod, “Okay, go,

now

!”

Bryx turned on the control console, but everything looked weird and warped on the digital display—as though it couldn’t read or record void space. But in the center was a white light, and the navigation system was able to direct us towards it.

~I love you so much Evie, with all my heart and all my soul, you’re my everything, so please be safe and come back to me soon~

I vibrated through the inner-ear bone, desperate to hear her voice one last time.

But there was no response.

“Everyone buckle in, flying through void space without shielding is going to suck.” Bryx warned us.

A moment later, we detached from

Krook Hook

and a second later we were cleared of the void shielding, and then we felt the pure, horrifying oppression of the void all around us.

Right away it felt like all my senses were hyper-charged and diminished at the same time; I was blind but could see every color flashing before me, deaf but with a terrible roaring in my ears, it felt like I was dead but also burning and freezing all at once—even my sense of smell and taste seemed confused.

Bryx fell out of the captain’s chair almost immediately, so Willa leaned forward to complete the calculations to confirm autopilot before she passed out too. Hennor was puking his guts out and crying, no real surprise there. Zyno was in the fetal position on the ground, rocking back and forth and trying to cover his ears while screaming. Roote and Durgo were doing pretty well, must’ve had some anti-torture training, but they were bracing themselves on the wall of the lifepod as though that was the only way they could remain standing.

I realized after a few moments I’d fallen to the ground at some point, my back against the wall. It felt like my brain was being stabbed directly, the worst migraine I’ve ever had in my life, and it honestly seemed like time was moving slower the longer we were in void space.

Bryx climbed back into the captain’s chair to engage the thruster boosters, burning away all our power to get us out of the void as fast as possible. A small part of me wanted to stop him, knowing he would be draining power from other vital systems like life support, but I was totally frozen at that moment which seemed to last a full year.

I thought back on all the mistakes I’d made in my life, every embarrassing memory, every stupid decision. I thought about all the death I was surrounded by and realized it didn’t start on Vyrane, it actually happened way before that—a lifetime ago, back on Earth.

I was suddenly back in Detroit, my first cardiac arrest patient, some old man from a nursing home. We cracked his sternum doing CPR, so every time we ventilated him blood would bubble up from the intubation tube.

I lurched forward in time and was at my first successful suicide, some guy hanged himself, his head all blue and bloated, still swinging a little when we got there.

I moved through time once more and it was my first pediatric death, a three-year-old drowned in six inches of water in a kiddie pool, parents beside themselves and screaming and wailing like animals—no human sounds coming from their mouths.

I traveled to my first structural fire, found a dog that had burned to a crisp, a hysterical teenager rushed towards me and demanded to know why we couldn’t save his pet.

The scenes of death kept flashing before my eyes, medical calls, trauma, assault, accidents and abuse. I completely relived them in full time, every second was torture, and all the while it felt like I was being crushed by the gravity of the void—physical pain alongside the mental anguish.

Finally, things seemed to slow down, and I found myself in a familiar room, blood and brains on the ceiling, a wife and three children brutally murdered with a hammer, and a man in the corner that tried to end it all with a shotgun in his mouth, but fucked it up and was still half alive. I had to work the scene, was forced to, and I was scarred for it—had a mental breakdown and quit my job, went back to my grandparents’ farm to live for a while.

And then everything was black; no comfort, no peace, no Evie to take away my pain. And then the memories started over, flashing faster and faster through my life, burning into me—my body literally

burned

in the void. I looked down to see I was on fire, but it wasn’t normal fire—wasn’t natural; it was blue, no, black, consuming me in shadows.

I was screaming then—everyone was screaming, even the agents with their psychological training, their anti-torture techniques. Nothing could help them now—nothing could help us.

We were in hell.

And then we were out, freed from the endless oppression, floating beyond the void into the safe, stable vacuum of space.

Someone started crying then, might’ve been a few people actually—might’ve been me even.

The ghost of the void was still with us though, still in our brains, still clawing at our minds. No one could move yet; no one could do anything.

The digital display was still warped, but we could see in the distance a massive ship in front of us, some blocky, bulky space freighter.

A few thousand years ago, I remember a time when I was looking for that freighter—or maybe it was just a couple centuries. Either way, it was a different life, an age long since passed.

Bryx laughed maniacally then, slamming a button on the control panel before passing out in his chair—or was he just weeping silently?

The lifepod lurched forward and sped towards the freighter. It was surprising how quickly we moved when time was working normally again; a few minutes were only a few minutes, rather than a hundred years. Strange how that worked.

Our autopilot docked us against the behemoth space freighter, and some annoying staticky voice buzzed at us through the comms, talking about protocols and clearance codes or some shit. I wanted to rip the voice open then, to make it bleed—to spread its blood and brains along the ceiling with a hammer, like I did to my wife and three kids in another life.

No, that wasn’t me—or was it? Who was I? Where was I? Why was that voice still buzzing at us, didn’t it know we all just wanted to die?

Another voice started blaring at us then, this one from inside the lifepod, talking about life support systems failing or some nonsense, nothing important I was sure.

I never did find out what that buzzing voice wanted as the new warning announcer seemed to drown it out, and everyone slowly started to get sleepy as the timer counted down when the life support would run out. A few minutes, a few seconds, and then it was over, and we all faded away into darkness.