Derelict: Chapter 3
#11 of Scrap Book
Derelict: Chapter 3
"I think this station might be worth more intact." Manny picked up a rather expensive looking electronic device which I had no idea the purpose of it was. It had a small probe like device jutting from the top of it and a small cracked screen that refused to turn on when Manny depresses the button that was displayed prominently on its front. "It's filled with all kinds of goodies."
"You could be right." Jerry acknowledge as he picked up another similar device from one of the lockers. It failed to turn on as well and was quickly tossed aside where it clattered on the floor.
We were still in the airlock in our suits even though I was able to weld the hole in the hatch back up to let the room pressurize using the power from The Hydra to access some tanks that were stored in the corner. The station was derelict for a reason and until we found out, it was just safer to avoid breathing the air in case there was something in it. My suit had some air quality sensors, but they were nearly sensitive enough to check for poisons. It was just there to tell me if there was enough oxygen to breath, which there was. There was no guaranteeing that for the rest of the station though.
"How's that door coming along?" Jerry asked me and began to rummage through the other lockers. There were a few suits that looked no better than the ones we were wearing, he ignored those and went for the electronics instead. A few more of the probe devices soon found themselves on the floor. Manny soon followed the captain's lead and went for a dented box at the bottom of an equally dented locker. It looked as if someone had managed to open up the locker with brute force, but was unable to get the box open.
"It's coming along." I answered as I busied myself with the door controls. I had decided that cutting through every door I came across was just a bad way to suck all of the air out of the station. If we did eventual deem the air safe, I didn't want to still have to stick around inside of the suit since it was already getting stuffy.
I doubled my efforts once I heard Manny trying to get the box open himself. They were savages when it came to potential loot. I liked to find inquisitive ways to get what I wanted, like looking for a key rather than hit something with the modern version of a rock. The rock in this case was a wrench that did nothing but add more dents. The box wasn't going to open, not like that. It was made of a special metal alloy that could be bent like aluminum, but would not tear under human hands. I wasn't sure why I knew that, must have read it somewhere and recognized it when I saw the box and how it was holding up under the continued efforts of Manny.
"Give it a rest." Jerry patted man on the back. "You're not going to get it open like that. You need something else." He didn't even have to ask. I unhooked by plasma torch and handed it back with one hand, not even looking. "Thank you." He took the torch and set it to a low setting.
I didn't watch what was going on. I needed to get the door open before the rambunctious duo behind me decided I was taking too long and tore the whole place apart.
"C'mon." I crossed a few wires and a spark jumped between them. "Yes." The door slid aside with a clean whoosh. I peeked into the station to see dark corridors spreading out in every direction. It was going to take forever to properly scout it all out.
"You finally got it." Jerry huffed as he peeled away the box's now red hot lid. Inside a puff of ask came out and stuck itself to Jerry's faceplate, causing him to reel back in surprise. "God dammit." He wiped it away, his gloves just pushing it aside since the ash was sticking due to the static charge his suit had.
"Must have been documents." Manny poured a small pile of smoldering ashes onto the floor. He looked like someone who had gotten socks for Christmas.
I stared at the pile of ashes for a second before a snort came out of my nose. I nearly lost it. I was loving the station more and more and were barely five meters into it. "Let's get going." I said, wiping imaginary tears off the face of my helmet and walked through the hatch I had managed to open. It was dark so I turned on the two LED lights that adorned the top of the helmet. They casted a neutral white light far down the corridors.
"We'll need to think about restoring power." Jerry stepped next to me, the ash still clinging to him, but pushed aside enough for him to see. "I'll head up to the control room. You head to the reactor and Manny will make sure life support will be up and running."
"Sounds like a plan." I replied and we set off. I had a general idea of where the reactor would be. If the station was anything like most others, the reactor would be near the center to get the best distribution. That was where I was going to head to first.
I had been walking for the better part of an hour, down hall after hall, heading towards what I believed to be the center when I began to get headache. It was more of a nuisance than anything, but it was there, slowly pounding my head. It slowly got worse until I came up to a T-junction in the corridor. When I looked down to the right, my head felt like it was splitting in two, but when I looked down the left, it got slightly better. Not knowing the cause of the headache nor wanting to suffer from it any longer, I went down the corridor to my left.
The headache faded slightly, but slowly began to build up once more. I had to stop.
I tried to press the comm button on my wrist, but the mere action sent my head into a spiral. I fell onto my knees, grasping at my helmet. I had to get out of the suit, I had to get out. The headache was throwing me into a panic which was only intensified by my claustrophobia.
Getting a firm grip on the sides of the helmet, I twisted it hard. There was a click and a hiss as I threw off the helmet. I took a breath of the station air in. It was stale, but oddly familiar. The familiarity gave me an odd sense of déjà vu.
"Troy are you alright?" Amanda Woods bent over with her hands on her knees to look where I had fallen down, a flurry of papers that I had been carrying were still falling to the ground.
"Yeah." I replied sheepishly and picked myself up. "Just got a bit clumsy." I began to pick up the papers that I had dropped. They had schematics of various devices and tools for the station on them.
"You need to be more careful, there was a wet floor sign back there." She helped me pick up the papers. I watched her from the corner of my eye. She long naturally red hair draped over her eyes and she laughed and pushed it aside. It was cute how that always happened. I had suggested cutting it short, but she wanted to keep it long. "Here." She handed the papers over to me.
"Thanks." I tried not to blush and took them. "And I'll be more careful next time."
"Sure. And I'll be there when you slip and fall again." She waved to me and walked away, going to where ever she was going. I watched her for a split second and went on my own way. I still had to get to the reactor and run the daily scans. It was all part of the daily schedule, the boring old schedule. Random encounters like the one I just had with Amanda made it worth it though, the money I was being paid helped as well.
The reactor room was one of the largest open spaces in the entire station and had a flurry of people in it at all times. The big beauty of a machine that slowly hummed as it performed the remarkable action of fusion sat right in the center. I walked through the flow of traffic, avoiding another incident like the one I had just had and made it to one of the many control monitors that were scattered around the room for easy access. I laid my hands down on it and began typing away the scan command.
"What the fuck." I backed away. All of the people faded from my vision, replaced with the darkness of the unpowered station. The monitor that I had just been happily clunking away on was dead. The whole place was still dead, but a small glimmer from the reactor showed a little life. It was the only light I had, I no longer had my helmet with its lights. I could only see a few meters in front of me, but the image from whatever had just happened was still in my mind. I could see the entire place, I knew where everything was.
"Fusion reactor." I said to myself, trying to make sense of the vision I had. No it wasn't a vision, it felt more like a memory or a vivid dream. Who was Amanda and why did she seem so familiar? What was going on? I didn't know and it scared me. I was here to get the reactor back on and then sell the station to the highest bidder. Yeah, I just needed to do my job. It was probably the claustrophobia and the headache doing a number on my mind. Once I got this done I would get some more sleep. Sleep was good.
I went back to the console. It was dead, but if the reactor was still glowing, then it might be on standby with enough power stored to restart it. Fusion reactors needed a lot of power to get going, but once they did, they more than paid back the power.
How did I know that? I wondered at the sudden influx of information. It felt right to know that stuff, but I shouldn't. I was a pilot not some engineer. Why did I even agree to come here anyways? Manny should have gone down and yet I agreed without even caring that I shouldn't have the knowledge to bring the reactor back up.
While I was thinking, I had opened up the back of the monitor and had rewired the entire thing to syphon power from the energy stored in the reactor. I did it all without knowing how, but the screen flickered and turned on. A short message came up on the screen.
Begin reactor start up sequence? Y/N
I stared at it for longer than I wanted. It was a simple question and I wanted the press the Y key to get the thing up and running, but a part of me told me that it was a bad idea, that the reactor was off for a reason.
"Troy?" Jerry's voice startled me. I quickly turned around, but felt foolish when I realized it was coming from my comm system that was built into the suit I was still wearing, minus the helmet that I must have left behind. "You there?" He repeated.
"I'm here." I answered back.
"You at the reactor yet?"
"Yeah, I can get it up and running." The message on the screen waited patiently for me, still needing an answer.
"Outstanding." He complimented. "Let's get this baby up and running."
Pushed on by his words I went back to the console and pressed he Y key. There was the urge to try and stop what I had done, but I needed to get the reactor back on in order to find out if the station was worth selling in one piece.
A hum began to come from the reactor and it slowly got louder and louder as the lights turned on. The station was coming back online. I should have been elated, but I had mixed feelings. Something was wrong, I had just done something terrible and I had no idea why I knew this. It wasn't just some gut feeling, but a certainty that I couldn't shake off.
Another message came up on the monitor and I leaned in to read it.
Important! Would you like to read? Y/N
Without thinking, I hit the Y key again. I shouldn't had done that, I knew it and yet I pressed it. And as if reading my mind, a new message appeared.
You shouldn't have done that. Goodbye.
"Goodbye?" I lifted my hand to scratch the back of my head when the monitor exploded in my face.