JenEric Designs

Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Epilogue

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Chapter 11: Hal doesn’t die but it isn’t from a lack of trying

I have spent my life in the service of Sol. They are my God, my compass, and my reason for existing. The family I built around myself is my heart, soul, and reason for living.

As I stood there with an alien abomination’s hand through my chest, I didn’t think about Sol. I thought about Suzie, Adric, Janet, Hoff, and all the others who I’ve called friends. That’s what made me decide to live. I might have survived despite me but who knows.

I burst into flames, using the power to cleanse myself and heal. It didn’t usually work on anything beyond sickness but I knew it would work this time.

Coming out the other side, I was naked but whole. I much prefer being whole over having holes. 

I didn’t have much time to rest however. The beast who had perforated me didn’t wait long to try and do it again. The creatures weren’t just immune to the cleansing fire, they used its energy to make themselves stronger. I threw myself to the ground and Suzie took its head off with her sword.

Avoiding the fighting, I went to the locker on the far end of the cargo hold and quickly got dressed. There was no way I was fighting these things naked. Also under the seat was a bolt gun and Flare, my sword. I had recovered the sword on Venus during the civil war. Suzie had been doing her best to teach me how to use it.

The legend says that the sword was forged in the heart of Sol themselves and had been passed down to each Sun Speaker since. I hadn’t received it on account of being thrown out of the church as a teen.

The room was swarming with beasts but Suzie held them back, her blade whirling like death.

Zuri and Diamond were holding their own with bolt guns and fists. We’d all agreed on bolt guns since plasma guns just fed the beasts, not to mention what they do to a ship’s hull.

“Let’s get out of here and seal the doors,” I said and everyone started falling back to the exit. I pulled out the bolt gun and fought off those that were between us and the exit. They’d somehow managed to get in the cargo hold on the deck above and were moving down to flank us.

The void beasts are hideous creatures with melting flesh for faces that looked vaguely like if the black of space and molasses had a child. They smelled like rotting flesh; vaguely sweet, sour, and pungent. They were the things of my nightmares but they weren’t that tough or particularly good at combat. They relied on their numbers and the virus that they spread. We’d already been vaccinated from the virus but not the numbers. We were killing them easily enough but we’d tire eventually and then they would win.

Deep in the centre of my ship are my quarters. They also double as a panic room in case something like this were to happen. The room isn’t massive but it is reinforced and defensible. 

Over the coms I ordered, “Everyone retreat to my quarters.”

We were in the corridor and fighting for each centimetre of movement when Sol sent me a vision. It wasn’t pleasant and it also could have waited.

“Did you see that?” asked Zuri.

“I think so,” replied Diamond and he looked a little green.

I holstered my gun and drew my sword as I said, “Anyone else getting tired of seeing visions of my death?”

Zuri snorted and she shot a beast in the head. 

Diamond punched one and said, “I barely know you and I’m sick of seeing you die. Is all this normal for you?”

“Not really,” I replied.

“This is an escalation of normal but it’s not unprecedented,” Suzie said while chuckling. 

I sighed and quipped, “I guess I just have one of those faces you either want to punch or kiss.”

Suzie didn’t hesitate to reply, “It’s both. Always both.”

The other two laughed and fought harder. A large part of leadership is convincing people to keep going. If all it took was some self-deprecating humour, I was happy to lead. 

We made it to my room and found the rest of the crew there except for Janet. “Doc, where are you?” I asked, scared I would only get static.

After a second delay that felt like an eternity, she replied, “I’m in the medbay, but they have me trapped.”

We closed the big reinforced doors and I concentrated. When I was lucky, I could see if the teleporter would work. It only worked on biological matter ten percent of the time. “Shit,” I said when I realized it wouldn’t work.

“What?” Suzie asked as she cleaned her blade.

“The teleporter can’t save the doctor. It won’t work.”

It was Zuri that said, “Why couldn’t we force it?”

“What?” I asked.

She breathed out and started talking to me like I was a child, “Our visions see the future but they can also let us see the math of the future. All we need is to calculate the right program to teleport the doctor here.” 

I felt sort of dumb trying to understand what she meant, but Diamond summed it up better, “If we work together we can pick the best outcome from our visions.”

I grabbed their hands and we found the solution. Zuri put the math into the computer, and with a quick humming noise, Janet was standing in front of us.

I cheered and Sol showed me the outside of the ship. It barely looked like the Hey Sunny. It looked like a piece of candy covered in ants. It was just a matter of time before they cracked the gooey centre of our panic room.

I reached for the connection I had with Gwin and hoped she was close enough. I pushed my thoughts out to the universe, “Help us! Please.”

I prayed she could hear us.  

Read Chapter 12 (December 2024)

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While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

• 2022 – Birth of the Aetherverse (Fantasy)
• 2021 – Diamond Stars and the Galactic Heist (Sci-Fi, Heist, Romance)
• 2020 – Point Zero (Superhero, Sci-Fi)
• 2019 – Seren Plentyn and the Secret of Hokulua Station (Sci-Fi Adventure Mystery)