by Dorian, Mars
"Hold on, are you implying there are more of them out there?"
eLoom hesitated.
"I do not know, you have to believe me. But one fine sol in the near future, I will discover the truth behind the biomorph's intent. I want to meet its original creator."
Bellrock closed his eyes and prepared for a little sleep before the arrival.
"Let's hope we both survive long enough to find out."
He awaited eLoom’s answer, but she froze on her ergo seat and expressed a glance devoid of emotion. Bellrock recognized that behavior—it occurred every time an update or important message connected with her neural network.
"What happened?"
"Oh no," she said to him while focusing on some invisible spot in the distance.
60
Whatever happened next happened too fast.
The vibrations shook up the climber module.
Heavy jolts that not even the ergo seats could swallow up.
Bellrock yelled,
"What the hell happens?"
eLoom replied.
”The space-elevator tube has split itself up a few hundred kilometers above us."
"How?"
"I don't know. The direct tube line to the ringstation is disconnected."
She seemed helpless for the first time, even though her movements remained controlled. Bellrock ground his teeth and said,
"Aren't you still connected to the Exec? Ask them what happened."
Before he finished the sentence, eLoom's reply shot over her lips.
"They say this climber module has been infected by the biomorph. They're not letting us reach the ringstation."
Her eyes flamed up.
"The Exec says it's going to purge this vessel."
Purge?
Wonderfully flabby speech for wiping out the shuttle and everyone in it.
Bellrock ordered eLoom to unwrap his seat. He checked his oxygen supply and glanced at the closed hatch five meters to his right side.
"How much longer till the tube hole?"
"23 seconds."
He pointed toward the hatch.
"Can you manually open this?"
"Yes, but what do you propose?"
"We're leaving a sinking ship."
The vessel decelerated which reduced the Gs pressing the two down. Up high, through the ceiling of the climber shuttle, Bellrock detected the end of their nano-tube. The Exec must have disconnected it from the main line leading back to the ringstation. Damn bastards. Without any warning, they were going to let them die during the ride.
Not on his watch.
Bellrock breathed in one last time and waved over eLoom.
"Open the hatch. Then hold onto me—we're leaving."
The second the shuttle reached the open end of its nano-tube, eLoom opened the hatch and clung to Bellrock's suit. He activated the thrusters on his EVA and escaped the climber unit before it derailed from the end of the tube. The duo shot into the cosmic void...
61
Keep your heart on lockdown.
In and away
Keep your solar panels shown
everyday
Keep your spirits light
and spacesuit up tight
Keep your warning sirens
strobing mega-bright
The J-pop blazed through his suit’s internal speakers. eLoom’s arms wrapped his EVA-suited ribcage. Some kind of liquid squeezed out from the tubes around the neck section of her spacesuit. The transparent substance engulfed her head and made her look as if she had dipped her face into sugary syrup. She formed her lips but to no avail—Bellrock couldn't hear anything. So he simply gave her a nod, which was the interplanetary gesture for Everything's Gonna Be Alright, and adjusted the thrusters on his backpack via the control-panel on his right arm.
He saw the climber shuttle spiraling into the void as it shattered.
As if an invisible hand had crushed it with one squeeze.
A thousand pieces brittled.
Debris projectiles on the run.
These Newtype had really blasted their climber unit, Bellrock thought.
He dashed away from the shredder trajectories. It was tougher than it sounded, because his helmet display couldn't detect the debris like the Newtype tech could.
No red lines, no warning signs.
He was still dressed for the wrong occasion.
Sorry, it was just human tech.
And with no means of communication, he had to rely on his instinct. Bellrock navigated around the darkness, leaving the orbit of Mars which was thankfully not as strong as Earth.
Thrust down to 87%.
Oxygen supply: 54%.
Bellrock wondered if he had enough energy to reach the ringstation. It looked so close, within a grab's reach, a white little ring to wrap around one's finger. But it must have been at least five thousand klicks away, if not more. And his EVA suit thrusters were only made for short-term traveling to do exterior work on stations and ships.
He looked at eLoom hanging onto him like a clingy girlfriend. He framed a smile, but she was probably too smart to see through his shtick. Despite being impartial to emotions, Newtype were pretty astute at detecting them. With no sense of direction, Bellrock focused on the white ring guiding his way through the cosmic void.
Going full thrust
with endless fire inside
During the flight, he watched his oxygen levels dropping at a rapid pace, which increased his heartbeat and shallow breaths, which in return increased his oxygen consumption.
It was a devilish circle.
eLoom looked like she wanted to communicate, but with her head being wrapped by the syrupy substance, and her mind shut from his, her attempts were in vain. Bellrock formed his lips into a Do Not Worry and hoped she would get the message.
He thrust toward the ringstation, which still loomed as far away as ever.
That tiny white ring in the far away distance.
Like a magic castle in a fable story.
No matter how much you neared it, the castle always remained illusive.
Bellrock swallowed as he eyed his stats with rising concern.
Oxygen supply down to 41.5%, thrust lowered to 74.2%.
Yes, he was going to choke before losing propulsion.
Still, he had to keep on flying.
Better to die during action than to admit defeat.
And because the void started to freak him out, he switched to another Shibuya Burn title, which calmed him down and thus lowered his oxygen consumption.
Heart pain, a fate full of fears
you fight through
amidst the flash fire of war
with closed eyes, open ears
you long for
voices from a distant star
Oxygen down to 25%, as indicated by an orange semi-transparent menu on the lower-right of his helmet HUD. Reason to panic, but with eLoom's tight grip and the band blasting through his ear channels, Bellrock thrust on.
He had to.
Following that halo in space.
His beacon of hope.
Was he even making progress? Maybe his desperation made him see things that weren't there. Maybe he was as far away from the station as ever. He looked back at eLoom as she was forming her mouth into an O-form, whatever that meant.
I'm sorry, Bellrock thought, but I can't hear you.
I can only guide you back to safety, or die trying.
Oxygen down to 18.7%, oh boy. Damn Newtype cared about an alien life form that tore apart their entire infrastructure, but wouldn't bother to help out two humanoids. How twisted was that?
To hell with them.
Never rely on other people, or humanoids, for that matter. Thrust your own way through life, even if you had only 45% left. Bellrock breathed slowly and quieted his mind.
Faint memories of Japan snuck in.
Days of a better life, full of meaning and clarity.
Little snippets of mundanity.
Steami
ng Ramen noodle soup, the early morning walk through the tight corridors of Neo-Tokyo's tech quarters, flavored with the scent of spring and cooked beef. Bellrock shook his head inside the helmet, as if that would rid him off his previous life. He focused only on the white halo while his confidence fired up with more Shibuya Burn.
Back from your troubled past
your full-metal orbital blast
back to action, quit the ponder
going astray from the path isn't sin
as long as you deeply wonder
What it's like not to lose but to win?
With oxygen levels falling below 8%, Bellrock felt dizzy. His mind wasn't as sharp anymore, the vision started to falter. Far away, he still saw the halo ring flickering like a beacon of light.
Luring him in.
At the other end of the space tunnel.
Except his one moved around in a curved trajectory, which seemed awkward.
The station couldn't move like that, or could it?
No, this wasn't the ringstation, this was...
62
...some kind of vessel...
Bellrock narrowed his eyes but the vision deteriorated. Oxygen dropped to below 5%, a red warning sign flashed the HUD of his helmet.
Thanks, commander obvious, I know I'm one minute away from choking in space.
He wanted to mouth it, but failed to do so.
His mind whirled around like a tornado of confusion. Bellrock felt like going cold turkey after a week of binge-drinking. Forming a single, coherent thought was...
So
Damn
Challenging
The white object moved closer—it was either on a collision course with him and eLoom or positioning itself for frontal assault. Too bad Bellrock had only one arm and no weapon systems left. He ignored the flashing warning signs of his helmet and sent one last glance at eLoom, whispering,
"I'm so sorry."
And he meant every. Single. Word.
Her response?
A smile warm enough to keep his body alive for another 30 seconds.
And now...
Bellrock's eyelids became heavy as titanium.
Mind a fogged up mess.
Breathing = choking.
He craned his neck one last time at the incoming attacker before he shut off.
Sayoonara, eLoom.
Goodbye Bellrock.
63
Echoes from far away.
The clink clank of electronic devices, haunted by a humming. Different light sources shone through the cracks of Bellrock's eyelids.
Was this heaven?
If the answer was yes, heaven was some state-of-the-art electronic wonderland.
Maybe God was a geek.
Who knew?
Except Bellrock's vision sharpened and he saw a face.
It was male.
Dark.
And shiny, at least considering the mouth, exposing the whitest smile Bellrock had ever seen. The familiar and yet so distant figure grinned with endless fire inside.
"How are you doing, captain?"
Say what?
Bellrock focused his eyes and tried to pinpoint his thoughts that were rushing 'round like loose rockets in the cloud. With every passing second, the mind mist cleared a little. Associations haunted him back, as well as names. Bellrock widened his eyes and echoed the guy's smile.
He knew this fella.
All too well.
"Dr. freaking Rao."
64
"Welcome back," a female voice said.
eLoom's face appeared next to Dr. Rao's, and for a sec, he still believed to be in the holy kingdom. All three reuniting above the clouds, but that idea faded. The oxygen mask around his mouth, cabled to some kind of life support system, was a giveaway.
This wasn't heaven.
This was a Newtype repair bay.
The three infamous cybernetic arms hovered around him, scanning his body and working on his missing...arm.
Bellrock swallowed. There was a new version attached to the cybernetic stump. It looked more realistic than his last, even the skin color matched his own. He couldn't even detect the border between where his real skin from the elbow began and where the new attachment ended. A single thought, and every new finger moved in perfect harmony. Bellrock moved his palm upside down, waved through the air and formed a fist.
It felt so natural, as if it was real.
Organic, like the rest of his body.
A gentle voice sounded from behind.
"We had to replace your stump. One of the damaged parts of your cybernetic prothesis drilled into your upper arm and threatened to cut into your humerus. But do not worry, our replacements are of the highest bionic quality."
Bellrock sighed as he watched the result. He had to admit—it looked rather impressive. As good as a real arm, if not better. The response rate was sublime, even faster than his already superb Onimech prothesis, and that reigned as the number one bionic limb back on Earth. But did it mean one fourth of him was a 'Newtype' now?
Bellrock was too tired to worry about that.
He rotated his head to the other side and glanced at eLoom and the doc standing next to each other like siblings from a different race.
"What happened in space?"
eLoom smiled.
"You blacked out because your oxygen supply diminished. We were picked up."
"Picked up?"
"I was trying to tell you the whole time, but with no B2B connection, I could only move my lips. I had ordered a recon droid from the ringstation and synced our coordinations."
And here Bellrock was, believing he could single-handedly fly back to the station to become the hero of the day. Ego aside, he was safe, and so was his partner, Sriniva Rao.
"How are you, buddy?"
"Excellent. The second I and eKazumi entered the space elevator, I was transferred to a new repair pod."
He looked as healthy as an athlete after the steroid treatment. Even the skin seemed to glow in a natural tan again.
"You are completely fit?"
eLoom grinned.
"The wonder of Newtype technology. You are both in the best state of your health."
Bellrock sank his head into the pillow-like substance underneath the back of his neck. He needed to be fit for his trip home or else complications would arise during the long-distance travel.
Crazy times.
He looked back at Dr. Rao when a vibration rumbled through the repair bay. The power of an earthquake, equivalent to a level 3 on the Richter scale.
Or so it felt.
Every cell in Bellrock's body rioted again, the tension surged. Adrenaline spread into his veins and flushed throughout the circulatory system.
"What the hell was that?"
eLoom pressed her lips and sweetened her voice.
"Ah, yes, we still have a complication to deal with it. Do not worry about it. You are safe in here."
Whenever she said that, he worried twice as much. eLoom was the queen of downplaying. That's why the captain waited for the response of his Terran partner.
"Rao, give it to me straight."
"The Newtype are still dealing with the biomorph. It has expanded its reach."
Expanded its reach?
Did it mean...
The only answer could be a visual one.
Bellrock ripped the oxygen mask from his mouth, waved away the robot arms around him and climbed out the pod, dressed only in a skin-tight tunic. His bare feet touched the cold, white floor of the repair bay and sprinted toward the shutter gate. Both Rao and eLoom tried to halt him.
"Do not panic," the female Newtype said.
Bellrock darted into the nearby corridor and found a wall which he could wipe into transparency. Another vibration shook up the ground, so he spread his legs for maximum stability. With a stripe of the wall now cleared, he saw what he didn't want to see. The 180 degree view shock-frosted every part of his body.
65
Space shuttl
es.
Shooting up from the Martian atmosphere like mechanical javelins. Roaring along trajectories that intersected with different sections of the ringstation. One of them crashed into a floating mobile platform that circumnavigated the station and shattered into a debris onslaught. Pieces fired into all directions and holed nearby vessels. A new squadron of droids flew in a diamond formation and laser-destroyed the resulting space debris to prevent any more collateral damage.
"What's going on?"
eLoom and Dr. Rao caught up with him.
"The biomorph has infected a back-up shuttle launch facility and is sending corrupted vessels at our ringstation. It tries everything it can to reach us in space."
Bellrock threw her a look.
"It's not trying to reach you, eLoom, it's trying to wipe you all out."
First the corrupted shuttle in the space elevator, now the ships from the Martian surface. The damn creature was obsessed with taking out every humanoid life form, no matter the cost. On Mars, it was fairly easy to escape the creature because of the vast surface space. But within the ringstation, it was nearly impossible to dodge the corrupted shuttles.
"What's the plan?"
eLoom again.
"We have forty-four turrets and five squadrons of droids that can dispose of the debris and laser bots that can alter the direction of the incoming shuttles."
"That's it?"
She tilted her head and awaited his answer.
"You're going to play defense till the biomorph has fired every flying object at us?"
"What's the alternative?"
Easy.
Blow that sucker into oblivion.
Short and painless, which wasn't the Newtype way, but their methodology proved useless at this stage. Their tactic of evasion and escape cost them shuttles, hovergliders and whole facilities, which wasn't 'sustainably' in any way. How could they still underestimate the power of the organism?
Bellrock switched to his soldier mode.
"Don't tell me you're still trying to talk the biomorph out of it?"
Dr. Rao, who had been silent during the conversation, chimed in.
"Captain, this is Newtype territory. We have to let them deal with the life form on their terms."